New medical office development coming to Gahanna

Developers are planning an $8.1 million medical office building in Gahanna, and it’s already almost leased up.

The two-story, 32,700-square-foot medical professional building is envisioned for a four-acre plot at the intersection of Tech Center Drive and Buckles Court.

Termed the Walnut Creek Medical Office Building, it already has three commitments that will fill up 90 percent of its space, said Denny Freudeman, president of developer Hplex Solutions of Lewis Center.

“That location is really convenient for the Gahanna market,” Freudeman said. “There does appear to be a lot of demand, a lot of independent physician groups looking for expansion opportunities.”

Hplex worked with two major prospective tenants looking for new space — Dr. Stephen Smith, owner Smith Facial Plastics, a plastic surgery practice, and Dr. Steven Balaloski of WomanKind Health, an OB/GYN. Both will move into the new building.

Smith Facial Plastics is based at 5175 Morse Road in Gahanna, while WomanKind currently has its offices at 4030 Easton Station with satellite offices in Canal Winchester and Pickerington.

Another 25 percent of the space will be leased to Central Ohio Primary Care for a family practice. The Westerville-based group has two pediatric practices in the Gahanna area now.

With these main leases secured, the facility is 90 percent pre-leased, and the developers think it will be fully leased by the time the building opens in late October or early November 2018.

“Demand seems pretty solid right now. We try to size our buildings, we don’t like to build a lot of spec space,” Freudeman said. “These projects are very expensive, they are designed with HVAC and plumbing demands.”

Hplex develops medical office properties, and it’s behind the $12 million, 50,000-square-foot independent medical office next to the new Mount Carmel Grove City hospital, which landed its own anchor tenant in Orthopedic One. Overall, it has about four other medical offices under development around Ohio.

The land is owned by Andre Buckles of Columbus. Worthington-based Civil & Environmental Consultants Inc. is the project’s engineer.